Interview with Kata Oelschlägel

How would you explain the title of your latest exhibition, „3%” in gallery Hollerei to our readers?
It is the first three percent of my work as an artist. I did a very positive calculation that I will probably be ninety years old, and this is the first three percent of my work till then. I always name my solo shows after the percentage that I have already done. And it is by coincidence my third solo happened around the time I completed 3% of my life as an artist.

How long have you worked for the “3%” exhibition?
I took some works I had already shown in prior exhibitions, so some of them are from one or two years ago, but most are just from the last half a year. All the sewing techniques work; it just happened in the last three months.

You consistently begin your exhibition concept with a performance. For this exhibition, you created a video work, which you have also displayed here. Could you please elaborate further on this?
Yes, I consistently start with a performance; on occasion, I also incorporate photography or video. Previously, I primarily utilized photography to document my performances; nowadays, video predominates. This forms the cornerstone of my presence within the exhibition space, around which I aim to construct additional pieces. Every creative concept originates from an act or performance.

Tell me about the three-room concept.
For me, the division of the exhibition room into three parts was very beneficial. I put different topics in every section. In this case, cutting action, sewing action, and my skeleton installations. I tried to divide space to give people some orientation and logic while they were going through my work.

Can you tell us more about the video work and the performance act?
I was surprised at how many people came and wanted to participate. It was not the most comfortable thing I asked them to do, since I had to stitch their hands together. I feel very alive and focused in that moment, and I don’t feel any pain. I always experience a reset in my brain after doing such a thing. In the audience, there were mostly artists who wanted to participate. I felt surrounded by family because I knew we were used to each other’s „craziness.” I have a lot of artists in my surroundings, and we often meet, have dinners together, and just do things together. So, I felt this was kind of an extension of what we usually do. Everybody participating in my actions is doing it voluntarily, including camera people and photographers as well. My actions are events full of support, which I am super thankful for. I rely on people to help me do my work, so there must be a commitment made from both sides. Most of my success I would credit to the people who participated because they are such an essential part of it.

How important is friendship to you?
I enjoy being surrounded by friends, but there are times when I go through phases of not talking to anybody. It’s more akin to a family relationship that I have with my friends, as we don’t have to see each other all the time but still get along.

With whom are you mainly talking about your work—maybe your husband?
I talk about it a lot with my husband, because we live and work together, and also with my mother. She is my harshest critic; she is always very straightforward and sometimes even a bit too honest. This I like. Having a reflected opinion on your work is hard to get from people who are always around you, so I always try to get advice and opinions from people I don’t know. That is why the exhibitions are so important for me—you have a range of different people whom I don’t know coming here and not knowing my work or me.

The line is something that follows and intertwines your work always, and it has been accrued in all the different shapes, forms, and actions you are using. Tell us a bit more.
It all started when I was drawing these lines on my body. I think Kandinsky had a lot of influence on me at that moment. He is talking about the line and point concerning the plain surface as a two-dimensional study, but you could also transfer it to a three-dimensional space, and therefore you could also transfer it to an individual three-dimensional space, which is the human body for me. I tried to find one line that made sense, but I ended up with two lines. I sketched them out, got them tattooed, and from then on, I established the artificial line. After that, I thought about the natural line that is shaped by natural influences like gravity; Viennese actionists used it a lot in their paintings as well. I wanted to transform my lines in a post-radical Viennese actionist way and make an experiment comparing all of the lines I have established. I did cut myself, but I am calling the cut itself an invasive line to not let it be associated with a radical act. So it is not a radical act; it is more of a necessary act. My art shouldn’t leave out the important topics but narrate them in a way people can understand them.

Where do you create your work?
I share a studio with my husband, and we both create there. It is a rather small studio. It is very messy at the moment.

How often are you in the studio?
Every day. From Monday to Sunday. We do a lot.

Do you need a mess to create?
No, I hate the mess, but it always happens. I always adored artists who work in very clean studio spaces, and they have not a single drop of paint on the floor, and it looks nice in there. I would love that, but I still cannot do it. Even if I clean, it will never be this clean. Sometimes my studio happens to be my least favorite space.

Are you surrounded by your artwork at home?
No, I don’t think we have a single workday at home. We have maybe one. We have a bunch of Joseph’s works, but they are not mine. I like to keep my distance. They are always in my head, and I don’t like to look at them too much, which makes me overthink them.

Tell us about the process of creating your textile works, and do you find them sculptural even if they are wall pieces?
I feel they are more sculptural than paintings, I would say. They are all made of one piece. They are something in between. I also call them paintings, and they work similarly to the works I did in the past. Even if I call them sewing paintings, they still have a sculptural approach. I find the fabric material I use everywhere; mostly, it’s something that had a different function before. I use a lot of Dirndl fabrics, but I also tend to work with a large variety of materials.

What does the human skeleton symbolize for you?
It is the bare minimum of a human, a totally reduced being. It is what we all have; we all have a skeleton. And it doesn’t say a lot about the individual, but it does say a lot about people in general. I was always fascinated with It is the bare minimum of a human—a reduced being. It was a critical artwork for that time, so my sculptures are a modern version of The Death Dance.

Are visitors touching your work, and are they allowed to do it?
Yes, I don’t mind my work being touched. One of them was in Albertina, and I went there every day because it was my first exhibition ever. I was there every day, set there for almost four hours, and looked at it. And I looked at people looking at it, and from time to time I would just go there and touch it, and then everybody else thought that they could touch it. I had to stop because security people got mad at me.

What is it like to see your work in an exhibition?
That is, in my opinion, the only natural conclusion about creating. Even if it is a bit of a helpless situation because you cannot do or change anything anymore, you also cannot influence how other people will receive your work. But besides that, I think it is most important to show it after creating it; otherwise, it doesn’t make sense to me. Artists often forget that our own minds are limited and that, at some point, we need more influences.

What kind of message are you trying to spread with your practice, and ideally, who is your audience?
I never tried to spread something. I am not a political artist. I try to be as objective and accurate as possible in my narration of my observations.

What kind of experience do you want viewers who are confronted with your work to have?
That makes them reflect in any way. I would rather have them hate my work than think nothing about it. I don’t necessarily want to disturb people, but that can happen, even though this is not my intention at all.

Do you like the openings of the shows?
I love them. I love the feeling, “Tonight is the night!” I used to be in sports a lot, and we also had this—the day of a tournament—and this was always an exciting day, the day you have been working for. It is always very stressful, but I really enjoy it.

What kind of sport did you do? What have you learned from this long time of training?
I did dressage riding for twenty years. And I stopped three years ago when I started doing art. I was also working some time as a trainer, and I taught myself a lot of discipline. I do miss it a lot, but I am happy I stopped because I would never have time for creating art if I’d still do it. I would have two horses to care for all the time, and there is no time for anything else. All in all, I am also happy that I can focus on other things.

How does the perfect day for you look? What brings you joy and makes you fun?
Apart from art, I love sitting, talking, and drinking white wine. I romanticize Viennese culture a lot. I love driving, going on trips, and driving motorcycles, even if my husband hates it.

What makes you the person you are, and what are you proud of?
I am ambitious. So it is hard for me to be satisfied with something. I always have these five minutes of being happy about something being completed, but I think we generally need to allow ourselves to feel it for longer.

What are you working on at the moment?
I am having another exhibition in Schloss Hollenburg in June, and then a solo show in August at Barvinskyi Art Gallery in the first district of Vienna. There are some smaller projects on the side. I’m also going to start studying at Die Angewandte in the fall in Transarts Class.

Exhibition: “3%” Kata Oelschlägel
Duration: 11th March – 13th May 2024
Location: Gallery Hollerei, Hollergasse 12, 1150 Vienna

Kata Oelschlägel – www.kataoelschlaegel.com, www.instagram.com/kataoelschlaegel

Kata Oelschlägel was born in 1996 in Vienna, Austria. While studying European ethnology and art history at the University of Vienna, she immersed herself in the world of action art and performances in public spaces. Oelschlägel acquired her artistic training self-taught and in exchange with other artists such as Stefan Waibel. Her journey will continue in the following autumn at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Kata Oelschlägel works and lives in Vienna.

About Gallery Hollerei: Margit and Andre Stolzlechner ran the café in the Essl Museum for years and have always been art lovers and collectors. Art has always been presented in the Hollerei restaurant. When the shop above the restaurant was up for rent in 2015, they did not hesitate for long and opened the Hollerei Gallery to combine gastronomy and art. Since then, Margit and Andre Stolzlechner have run the gallery together. The exhibitors are both local and international artists. The gallery not only presents art but also creates special experiences by combining fine art and culinary delights, exclusive art dinners, and events that take place in the exhibition rooms. The Hollerei Galerie not only focuses on the acquisition of artworks but also on the creation of a cultural meeting place that brings together art lovers of all kinds. Hollerei Galerie is located opposite their restaurant, „Hollerei“. www.hollerei-galerie.at